The County
GroundSwindon Town v Accrington
Stanley
League Two
Saturday, February 25th 2012, 3pm.By Paul Willott

As
a Preston North End supporter exiled to Kent, when
the Lillywhites are at home I often inspect the
fixture list to see if Accrington Stanley or
Morecambe may want some northern sympathetic
support in the south.

Hence on this day I found myself travelling to
Swindon, a town whose team have tasted all 4
divisions of the professional game within the past
2 decades.

Now let me be quite candid; the County Ground is
fantastic to me. Not only is sat-nav proof
and it is map-proof too. All you need to do is
leave the M4 at the appropriate junction, namely
junction 15 from the East, follow the signs to
Swindon and you can't fail to trip over the ground
; thats if you haven''t already noticed the good
old-fashioned floodlight pylons , in which case
its either ridiculously foggy or you shouldn't be
driving at all!

I found a suitable patch to ditch the car, and
then walked to the ground, whereupon I pounced
upon one of the burger stalls and lavished a few
quid on a most delicious quarter pounder.

For those hardy souls travelling to support the
Stanley, a section to the east of the Arkells
stand was allocated, which at least afforded
covered seating as opposed to the uncovered
Stratton Bank where seats have been installed upon
former terracing. However I understand that
Stratton Bank is usually unused except for
overflow, or major fixtures. Despite looking
fairly old, the inside of the Arkells stand is in
good clean order, and is very presentable.

What a lovely 90 minutes. If you prefer prawn
sandwiches, then don't bother reading any
further. But, if you like watching a game of
football where the shadows of the floodlight
pylons slowly lengthen across the pitch as the
afternoon progresses, then make a visit to Swindon
a priority. It was also refreshing to visit
a ground where the home fans actually make plenty
of noise throughout the game, as opposed to the
odd polite cheer when a goal goes in before
sitting down pacifully as though riding on the
08:21 to Paddington for a days work!

I have already eulogised over the floodlight
pylons, but the rest of the ground deserves a
mention too, as opposite the Arkells stand is the
more modern looking Don Rogers stand, whilst to
the West is the small Town End, which I suspect is
also a terrace that has had seats bolted to
it. The noise their fans made could kid you
its still a standing only area.

Also thrown in for free at the moment is the added
entertainment of watching the antics of the
Swindon Town manager, Paolo Di Canio along the
touch-line. What a guy. I wish he was
managing my club!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the County
Ground; the ground clearly deserves to be hosting
football at Championship level yet finds itself in
the basement division. Under Di Canio though
it looks as though Swindon will achieve promotion,
and I will happily return next season to cheer on
Preston North End; assuming the Lillywhites don't
detioriate any further and slip down a level
themselves!